It's another "100 Years Ago Today" post (they're very convenient to generate when I'm stuck for a topic). But today's post features a major news story: the rescue of the sinking British cargo ship
Antinoe by the
S. S. President Roosevelt.
Surprisingly, it didn't even make the front page – it's at the top of page 2. But here are both pages, since they're fun to look at and packed with news items.
The photo caption reads, "The photograph shows the sinking British steamship Antinoe just after the last of her crew of 25 men had been saved in mid-Atlantic by the American liner President Roosevelt. The view is from one of the rescue ship's gangway entrances. To reach the reeling water-logged, and doomed Antinoe, the President Roosevelt fought for 84 hours a nerve-wracking battle with hurricane-like winds and mountainous seas. Two of the President Roosevelt seamen paid for the gallant victory for their lives. King George of England awarded decorations to Captain George Fried of the President Roosevelt and the other rescue heroes, and their courage was acclaimed around the world.
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| Press photo of Captain George Fried |
To read a truly excellent account of the heroic rescue, click
here to visit the Mariners' Museum and Park website. Jeanne Willow-Egnor, the Curator of Maritime History and Culture, tells the exciting story in detail, including great photos and even vintage newsreel footage of the crew of the President Roosevelt receiving a heroes' welcome.
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Also of interest (to me, at least) is the article on page two reporting that the plans for the
Lorain Overlook Apartments were now complete. The article notes, "The 10 summer cottages now located on the site are to be moved and grouped around a small park on the lake shore.
"A large house on the site will also be moved a few hundred feet east."
I didn't know that the Overlook was that old.
ReplyDeleteI found the tiny "Quarantine" article at the lower right of the 2nd page interesting. There were 8,607 measle deaths in the US in 1926 (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/measles-cases-and-death) with virtually every child in the country catching them. There are no records of the number of severe disabilities caused by the disease, but it's usually upwards of 2% of cases.
ReplyDeleteIt was a banner year for whooping cough, with 202,210 cases in the US (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/pertussis-cases-and-deaths-in-the-united-states). Deaths from the cough weren't recorded, but, typically, it was about 3.5% of cases. That means about 7,000 deaths. Again, with no estimate of lingering effects, but it's about 0.5%.
Thank goodness we have effective vaccines that reduce both the rate and severity of infection of these devastating childhood diseases.
Interesting article about making Walker Road a "super highway" through Avon (now Avon Lake), linking up to Wolf Road in Bay. "Super highway" must mean something much different to us than it did 100 years ago because Walker and Wolf are still two-lane roads for the most part.
ReplyDeleteDon - Good points. When I was a child, measles, mumps and chicken pox were almost universal. The most frightening disease was polio - not as common but devastating. Vaccines addressed all these scourges - or so we thought.
ReplyDeleteI came along right at the end of the polio terrors and recall cancelled vacation trips and the like due to the disease - we *never* were in crowds. Ever. Anti-vax folks have no memory of what things were like.
DeleteI remember getting the Sabin oral vaccine: a pink or purple drop on a sugar cube. We were ushered into a small office with stacks and stacks of sugar cubes. When I asked for another drop, the nurse laughed and gave me a second, medicine-free cube. This manner of delivering medicine was the inspiration for "Just a Spoonful of Sugar" in Mary Poppins.
Dr. Albert Sabin was part of the Children's Hospital Research Foundation in Cincinnati Ohio. By the way, he was born Abram Saperstejn in what is now Poland. Goes to show you just can't tell what wonderful things those huddled masses might do for humanity.
The Sabin treatment's predecessor, the Salk vaccine, came out when I was in the first grade. I remember the great relief it provided. One of my classmates had contracted the disease, so it was very frightening. I recall the day we lined up for the vaccine shot.
DeleteSalk made nothing from his discovery, nor did the University of Pittsburgh, where he worked.